Colorado State University president Larry Penley said Thursday that his school would be carbon-neutral by 2020 through conservation and new technology.

Penley told the school’s faculty, students and some community members at his fall address in Fort Collins that the first priority will be measuring the university’s carbon footprint.

The school will then focus on conserving energy. With savings from that, administrators will invest money into renewable-energy technology.

The effort is part of a broader push to make CSU a national leader in being “green.”

In March, the university created a new way to quickly put clean-energy inventions into the marketplace.

In July, CSU announced a new School of Global Environmental Sustainability.

Penley said his latest effort to become carbon-neutral would not rely on purchasing carbon credits, which he called a “PR gimmick.”

“Our goal is energy independence,” he said.

Political science professor John Straayer, who has been critical of the school for not investing enough in students, called the push noble. But he said: “The foundation of this place is the faculty, and our first responsibility is to our students. The other stuff is just fine so long as it doesn’t compromise in the investment of student resources. . . . We all care about a green world.”

The owners of Boulder’s Sterling University Peaks apartments, who this summer were cited for illegally subdividing 92 bedrooms in the complex, have reached an agreement to settle the case for $410,000, the city announced Thursday.